How to Learn a New Language in a Chatroom

Katelan Cunningham·Oct 2, 2014

We’re pretty sure you’ve always wanted to learn another language. Maybe your high school classes didn’t stick. Maybe you never got around to it. Or maybe you just really want to rendezvous to Paris and chat with the locals. Soon, there will be a way to do it without taking a class — you’ll just have a conversation via Hua, a language learning app.

Hua offers “lessons” for 12 languages, some going beyond what’s offered in high school, like Mandarin, Thai, Russian and Portuguese. You simply pick your native language and the language(s) you want to lear. Then you’ll be given a list of people who are native in that language and who want to learn English! Think of the other person as a language partner.

Founder Jack Hoge started with the English/Mandarin pairing by sending cold emails to people in Taiwan. He used to live there, so he knew there was a demand on both ends. Not so surprisingly, the desire to learn a new language exists beyond just the US and Taiwan — people just needed an organized way to connect and help each other out.

We love the idea of this app because there’s no need for flash cards, textbooks or software (besides the app you’re chatting on). It’s a more organic way of learning local lingos through the art of old-fashioned conversation. And old-fashioned chatrooms ;) As of right now it’s not clear how guided these chats will be, but we can’t wait to try it out. Like most apps these days, you can sign up using your Facebook account and get learning on your iPhone or Android.

The app is still under construction but you can try it now in beta from your PC using Hua’s built-in messaging system.

Do you speak more than one language? Have you learned a new language in a techy way? Share what methods worked best for you below!